Government has been trying to contact Mamata Banerjee, says P Chidambaram

NEW DELHI: Government today said it has been trying to contact Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for the last four days with even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh making an effort to explain the reasons behind FDI and diesel price hike decisions but without success.

"We have tried to speak to her four days ago. The Prime Minister tried to speak to her. We have left the message to her that she can speak. We have not heard anything," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters here.

He was replying to questions about Trinamool's decision to quit the government in protest against decisions on allowing FDI in retail and hike in diesel price.

His statement came after a meeting of the Congress Core Group during which the issue of Trinamool's decision to withdraw support was discussed.

The meeting decided that efforts would still be made to explain Trinamool the background behind its decisions.